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PNS Daily Newscast - November 19, 2018.

More than 1,200 missing in the California wildfires. Also on the Monday rundown: A pair of reports on gun violence in the nation; and concerns that proposed changes to 'Green Card' rules favor the wealthy.

Changing Schools Frequently Can Slow Child Learning

A new study shows frequent moves for low income children can have a negative impact on their educational progress. Photo by Jerry Oster

October 19, 2015

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Children who change schools frequently start falling behind by the time they reach fourth grade. A study of low-income children found that moving from school to school more than twice in the five years from Head Start preschool through third grade correlated with lower scores on math tests.

Allison Friedman-Krauss, assistant research professor, National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, co-authored of the study.

"Children who moved three or four times over that five-year period, compared to children who didn't move frequently - scored lower on the math achievement by about eight months of learning," says Friedman-Krauss.

According to Friedman-Krauss that difference puts children who change schools more often in danger of failing to meet state standards.

The research also showed that those same children have more behavioral problems and difficulty paying attention, a factor Friedman-Krauss says was central to choosing to look at math scores.

"We were interested in self regulation and there's been a lot of research to show a very robust relationship between self regulation and later math achievement," she says.

The study followed almost 400 low income children in public school systems.

Friedman-Krauss believes the results indicate the need to take what they call "school mobility" into consideration both in the classroom and in planning curriculum.

"So if children are missing math lessons because they're moving, because there's gaps in the curriculum from school to school, they're going to need extra support from their teachers and the teachers may need extra support from the school," says Friedman-Krauss.

The authors of the study point out that children from low income families face many difficulties that can affect school performance, and providing supports for those transitioning to new schools can help.